Pale Honey - Devotion

  by Erick Mertz

published: 23 / 12 / 2017

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Review

Pale Honey, consisting of Nelly Daltrey and Tuva Lodmark, boasts frequently of their rock prowess. Their cowbell, according to their site, is best. There is a lot written on the Swedish duo’s site about their love of sweat. The ferocity of headbanging induced is, allegedly, 2040 bpm. That’s bangs per minute, for those who don’t know. Nothing however, speaks more vociferously for Pale Honey’s emerging place in the indie-rock pantheon than their album itself, 'Devotion' a rare collection of strutting instrumentation, sensual vocals and the kind of moxie most bands can’t muster in the course of a career. Pale Honey is yet another band that has decided to forego the traditional rock arrangement, jettisoning the bass player in favor of denser guitar production. The results are no less raucous, due in large part to deft production from Anders Lagefors, who designs a whole sound and acts like a third member on stage. Many of their songs are racing fast ('Get These Things Out of My Head') and aiming to blow the dust off of those moribund moments of everyday life ('Lesson Learned') without feeling cliché. There’s a lot out there to command your attention. Daltrey and Lodmark happen to believe you’re best looking at them. Yet, the insinuating vocals and spare guitar work on the slowed down material ('The Heaviest Storms, Devotion Pt 1' and '777 Devotion Pt 2') rounds out the album’s aspiration to craft. Pale Honey banks on a type of minimalism to create a hallmark intimacy, losing the weight in favour of urgency, and that is no better witnessed than on 'Sweep' which is mid-tempo, passionate, and blissful. Pale Honey debuted in 2014 with an EP, 'Fiction' which they then followed up with a self-titled record a little over a year later. After a slate of European festivals and tours, plus a whole bushel full of singles, they have proclaimed (in song and everywhere else that matters) that they are ready to take over your corner of the world. If we operate on the premise that all rock is, in some way, built on a foundation of hyperbole, 'Devotion' may approximate an element of solvency in its relentless rock acumen. Pale Honey doesn’t do anything that the other kids are doing, vapor wave or space rock or anything ethereal. On 'Real Thing' when Lodmark says, “You’re my wet dream”, it’s clear she wants something she’s well suited to take with both hands. This is a band reaching for the only cliché that will last: real, unattainable by mortals, rock bluster

Track Listing:-

1 Replace Me
2 Someone's Devotion
3 Get These Things out of My Head
4 The Heaviest of Storms (Devotion, Pt. 1)
5 Lesson Learned
6 Real Thing
7 777 (Devotion, Pt. 2)
8 Sweep
9 Golden
10 Why Do I Always Feel This Way

Band Links:-

http://www.palehoney.com/
https://www.facebook.com/palehoney/
https://www.instagram.com/palehoney/
https://twitter.com/palehoneyband
https://www.youtube.com/user/palehoney
https://plus.google.com/10597371723908